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Webster 1913 Edition

Fail

Fail

(fāl)
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Failed
(fāld)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Failing
.]
[F.
failir
, fr. L.
fallere
,
falsum
, to deceive, akin to E.
fall
. See
Fail
, and cf.
Fallacy
,
False
,
Fault
.]
1.
To be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in any measure or degree up to total absence; to cease to be furnished in the usual or expected manner, or to be altogether cut off from supply; to be lacking;
as, streams
fail
; crops
fail
.
As the waters
fail
from the sea.
Job xiv. 11.
Till Lionel’s issue
fails
, his should not reign.
Shakespeare
2.
To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be deficient or unprovided; – used with of.
If ever they
fail
of beauty, this failure is not be attributed to their size.
Berke.
3.
To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink.
When earnestly they seek
Such proof, conclude they then begin to
fail
.
Milton.
4.
To deteriorate in respect to vigor, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker;
as, a sick man
fails
.
5.
To perish; to die; – used of a person.
[Obs.]
Had the king in his last sickness
failed
.
Shakespeare
6.
To be found wanting with respect to an action or a duty to be performed, a result to be secured, etc.; to miss; not to fulfill expectation.
Take heed now that ye
fail
not to do this.
Ezra iv. 22.
Either my eyesight
fails
, or thou look'st pale.
Shakespeare
7.
To come short of a result or object aimed at or desired ; to be baffled or frusrated.
Our envious foe hath
failed
.
Milton.
8.
To err in judgment; to be mistaken.
Which ofttimes may succeed, so as perhaps
Shall grieve him, if I
fail
not.
Milton.
9.
To become unable to meet one's engagements; especially, to be unable to pay one's debts or discharge one's business obligation; to become bankrupt or insolvent;
as, many credit unions
failed
in the late 1980's
.

Fail

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To be wanting to ; to be insufficient for; to disappoint; to desert.
There shall not
fail
thee a man on the throne.
1 Kings ii. 4.
2.
To miss of attaining; to lose.
[R.]
Though that seat of earthly bliss be
failed
.
Milton.

Fail

,
Noun.
[OF.
faille
, from
failir
. See
Fail
,
Verb.
I.
]
1.
Miscarriage; failure; deficiency; fault; – mostly superseded by
failure
or
failing
, except in the phrase
without fail
.
“His highness' fail of issue.”
Shak.
2.
Death; decease.
[Obs.]
Shak.

Webster 1828 Edition

Fail

FAIL

,
Verb.
I.
[L. fallo; Gr. whence; Eng. felony. It seems to be allied to fall, fallow, pale, and many other words.]
1.
To become deficient; to be insufficient; to cease to be abundant for supply; or to be entirely wanting. We say, in a dry season, the springs and streams fail, or are failing, before they are entirely exhausted. We say also, the springs failed, when they entirely ceased to flow. Crops fail wholly or partially.
2.
To decay; to decline; to sink; to be diminished. We say of a sick person, his strength fails daily.
3.
To decline; to decay; to sink; to become weaker; as, the patient fails every hour.
4.
To be extinct; to cease; to be entirely wanting; to be no longer produced.
Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men. Ps. 12.
5.
To be entirely exhausted; to be wanting; to cease from supply.
Money failed in the land of Egypt. Gen. 47.
6.
To cease; to perish; to be lost.
Lest the remembrance of his grief should fail.
7.
To die.
They shall all fail together. Isaiah 31.
8.
To decay; to decline; as, the sight fails in old age.
9.
To become deficient or wanting; as, the heart or the courage fails.
10.
To miss; not to produce the effect. the experiment was made with care, but failed, or failed to produce the effect, or failed of the effect.
11.
To be deficient in duty; to omit or neglect. the debtor failed to fulfil his promise.
12.
To miss; to miscarry; to be frustrated or disappointed. The enemy attacked the fort, but failed in his design, or failed of success.
13.
To be neglected; to fall short; not to be executed. the promises of a man of probity seldom fail.
The soul or the spirit fails, when a person is discouraged. The eyes fail, when the desires and expectations are long delayed, and the person is disappointed.
14.
To become insolvent or bankrupt. When merchants and traders fail, they are said to become bankrupt. When other men fail, they are said to become insolvent.

FAIL

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To desert; to disappoint; to cease or to neglect or omit to afford aid, supply or strength. it is said, fortune never fails the brave. Our friends sometimes fail us, when we most need them. The aged attempt to walk, when their limbs fail them. In bold enterprises, courage should never fail the hero.
2.
to omit; not to perform.
The inventive God, who never fails his part.
3.
to be wanting to.
There shall never fail thee a man on the throne. 1Kings 2.
[In the transitive use of this verb there is really an ellipsis of from or to, or other word. In strictness, the verb is not transitive, and the passive particple is, I believe, never used.]

FAIL

,
Noun.
Omission; non-performance.
1.
He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites. Josh. 3.
2.
Miscarriage; failure; deficience; want; death.
[In these senses little used.]

Definition 2024

fail

fail

See also: fàil, fáil, and Fäil

English

Verb

fail ‎(third-person singular simple present fails, present participle failing, simple past and past participle failed)

  1. (intransitive) To be unsuccessful.
    • 2013 August 10, “A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:
      As the world’s drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one.
    Throughout my life, I have always failed.
  2. (transitive) Not to achieve a particular stated goal. (Usage note: The direct object of this word is usually an infinitive.)
    The truck failed to start.
  3. (transitive) To neglect.
    The report fails to take into account all the mitigating factors.
  4. (intransitive, of a machine, etc.) To cease to operate correctly.
    After running five minutes, the engine failed.
  5. (transitive) To be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert.
    • Bible, 1 Kings ii. 4
      There shall not fail thee a man on the throne.
    • 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 3, ch. II, Gospel of Mammonism
      A poor Irish Widow […] went forth with her three children, bare of all resource, to solicit help from the Charitable Establishments of that City. At this Charitable Establishment and then at that she was refused; referred from one to the other, helped by none; — till she had exhausted them all; till her strength and heart failed her: she sank down in typhus-fever […]
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 2, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired. And if the arts of humbleness failed him, he overcame you by sheer impudence.
  6. (intransitive) To receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits.
    I failed in English last year.
  7. (transitive) To give a student a non-passing grade in an academic endeavour.
    The professor failed me because I did not complete any of the course assignments.
  8. (transitive, obsolete) To miss attaining; to lose.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Milton
      though that seat of earthly bliss be failed
  9. To be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in any measure or degree up to total absence.
    The crops failed last year.
    • Bible, Job xiv. 11
      as the waters fail from the sea
    • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare
      Till Lionel's issue fails, his should not reign.
  10. (archaic) To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be deficient or unprovided; used with of.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Berke
      If ever they fail of beauty, this failure is not be attributed to their size.
  11. (archaic) To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Milton
      When earnestly they seek / Such proof, conclude they then begin to fail.
  12. (archaic) To deteriorate in respect to vigour, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker.
    A sick man fails.
  13. (obsolete) To perish; to die; used of a person.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare
      had the king in his last sickness failed
  14. (obsolete) To err in judgment; to be mistaken.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Milton
      Which ofttimes may succeed, so as perhaps / Shall grieve him, if I fail not.
  15. To become unable to meet one's engagements; especially, to be unable to pay one's debts or discharge one's business obligation; to become bankrupt or insolvent.
Usage notes
  • This is a catenative verb which takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

fail ‎(countable and uncountable, plural fails)

  1. (uncountable, slang) Poor quality; substandard workmanship.
    The project was full of fail.
  2. (slang) A failure (condition of being unsuccessful)
  3. (slang, US) A failure (something incapable of success)
  4. A failure, especially of a financial transaction (a termination of an action).
  5. A failing grade in an academic examination.

Adjective

fail ‎(comparative more fail, superlative most fail)

  1. (slang, US) That is a failure.

Etymology 2

You can help Wiktionary by providing a proper etymology.

Alternative forms

Noun

fail ‎(plural fails)

  1. A piece of turf cut from grassland.
Derived terms

References

  • fail in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • fail in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • fail at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish foil, from Proto-Celtic *wali-, from Proto-Indo-European *wel-. Cognates include Ancient Greek ἕλιξ ‎(hélix, “something twisted”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fˠalʲ/

Noun

fail f ‎(genitive singular faile, nominative plural faileanna)

  1. ring
  2. bracelet
  3. wreath
  4. sty

Declension

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
fail fhail bhfail
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Malay

Etymology

From English file.

Noun

fail ‎(plural fail-fail)

  1. file (collection of papers)
  2. information or a document about someone, something etc.
  3. (computing) file (aggregation of data on a storage device)

Derived terms

  • pemfailan (the process of filing)
  • berfail-fail (a lot of files)

Verb

fail ‎(used in the form memfailkan)

  1. file (commit papers)
  2. file (to archive)
  3. (computing) file (store computer data)
  4. (with untuk) file (make a formal request)

Old Irish

Verb

fail

  1. Alternative form of fil

Etymology

From Middle English failen, from Anglo-Norman faillir, from Vulgar Latin *fallire, alteration of Latin fallere ‎(“to deceive, disappoint”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰāl- ‎(“to lie, deceive”). Compare Dutch feilen, falen ‎(“to fail, miss”), German fehlen ‎(“to fail, miss, lack”), Danish fejle ‎(“to fail, err”), Swedish fela ‎(“to fail, be wanting, do wrong”), Icelandic feila ‎(“to fail”).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: fāl, IPA(key): /feɪl/
  • Rhymes: -eɪl

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